1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to wireless communications and, more particularly, relates to a system and method for displaying the location of a wireless communications device.
2. Related Art
The advent of wireless personal communications devices has revolutionized the telecommunications industry. Cellular, personal communications services (xe2x80x9cPCSxe2x80x9d) and other services provide wireless personal communications to businesses and individuals at home, in the office, on the road, and to any other location the wireless network can reach. Wireless telephone subscribers no longer must use public telephones along the road or wait until returning to the home or office to check messages or to return important business calls. Instead, wireless subscribers can carry out day-to-day business from the privacy of an automobile, from a remote job site, while walking along the airport concourse, and anywhere else that a personal communications signal is accessible.
Thus, it is no surprise that since the introduction of the cellular telephone service, the number of wireless telephone subscribers has increased steadily. Today, there are a staggering number of wireless telephone subscribers whose ranks are growing rapidly. In fact, many households have multiple wireless telephones in addition to their conventional land line services.
With a market of this size, there is fierce competition among hardware manufacturers and service providers. In an attempt to lure customers, most providers offer handsets with desirable features or attributes such as small size, light weight, longer battery life, speed dial, and the like. Many recent additions to the marketplace include multi-functional handsets that even provide pocket organizer functions integrated into the wireless handset. Most manufacturers, however, are still scrambling to add new features to their communications devices to snare a portion of this booming market.
One way in which new features are added to wireless communication devices is by integrating the devices into the Web. Such integration allows the countless services available through the Web to be extended to wireless communications devices. Traditional web pages, however, usually contain too much information to be presented on the typically smaller display of a wireless communication device, such as a digital cellular telephone. To address this problem, new Web based programming languages such as the Handheld Device Markup Language (xe2x80x9cHDMLxe2x80x9d) have been developed to serve the wireless market. In serving the wireless market, HDML has evolved and is sometimes called the Wireless Markup Language (xe2x80x9cWMLxe2x80x9d). This language, which will be referred to herein as HDML/WML, is part of a larger standard called the Wireless Application Protocol (xe2x80x9cWAPxe2x80x9d). WAP is a result of continuous work to define an industry wide standard for developing applications over wireless networks. The WAP forum was formed to create a global wireless protocol specification that works across differing wireless network technology types for adoption by appropriate industry standards bodies.
HDML/WML is a markup language intended for use in specifying content and user interfaces for narrow bandwidth (xe2x80x9cnarrowbandxe2x80x9d) devices, including cellular phones, pagers, and personal digital assistants (xe2x80x9cPDAxe2x80x9d). HDML/WML was designed with the limitations and constraints of these narrowband, small screen devices specifically in mind. Some of these constraints include a smaller display and limited user input facilities, a narrowband network connection and limited memory and computational resources.
Though HDML syntax is similar to HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) syntax, HDML is not a true markup language. It is a set of commands or statements that specifies how a narrowband device interacts with a user. HDML applications display information on the handset display and specify how the handset responds to user input. The text presentation and layout area is tailored to the smaller display area typical to a narrowband device. A xe2x80x9ccard and deckxe2x80x9d organizational structure is used whereby all information is organized into a collection of screen sized cards, each of which specifies a single interaction between the handset and user. A deck contains one or more cards. HDML supports several types of cards, including entry cards, which display a message and allow the user to enter a string of text; choice cards, which display multiple options from which the user can choose one; and display cards, which display information only. Inter-card navigation and linking is supported for managing navigation between cards and decks. String parameterization and state management allow the use of state models to add parameters to decks.
Today, HDML/WML offers an efficient means of providing content and services from the Web infrastructure to wireless handheld devices such as cellular phones, pagers, and PDAs. Another useful feature associated with some wireless communication devices is the Global Positioning System (xe2x80x9cGPSxe2x80x9d). A GPS receiver in or associated with the wireless device communicates with a constellation of GPS satellites to determine the precise location of the device in terms of global latitude and longitude. This information may also be obtained using other systems such as a triangulation system. However obtained, location in terms of latitude and longitude is typically not helpful to the operator of a wireless communication device.
The present invention uses the existing infrastructure of a wireless HDML/WML browser to send latitude and longitude information from a wireless handset to a remote Web server. The Web server processes the latitude and longitude and returns the handset location for display in a format that is understandable and usable by the handset operator.
In one embodiment of the invention, a method for displaying the location of a wireless handset is provided. The method comprises the steps of receiving a request from a user of the handset to display the handset location; acquiring the handset location; sending the handset location from the handset to a Web server; processing the handset location to generate a street address; sending the street address from the server to the handset; and displaying the street address on a display of the handset.
In another embodiment of the invention, a method for displaying the street address of a mobile phone is provided. First, a request is received from a user of the handset to display the mobile phone location. Next, the current latitude and longitude of the mobile phone is acquired and appended to the URL address of a Web server. A Web browser contained within the phone is navigated to the URL address, and the server at the address parses the latitude and longitude from the URL address and performs reverse geocoding on the parsed latitude and longitude to generate the street address of the mobile phone. The street address is sent from the server to the mobile phone and displayed on the mobile phone.
In an additional embodiment of the invention, a method for presenting the current street address of a wireless communications device on a display of the device is provided. The current latitude and longitude of the device is acquired and sent to a Web server. The Web server reverse geocodes the latitude and longitude to generate the street address of the device, and sends the street address from the server to the device for display.
In a further embodiment of the invention, a method for using an Internet browser to display the street address of a wireless handset incorporating the browser or to dial a telephone number is provided. An input is first received from a user of the wireless handset. The input comprises either a location request or a telephone number to be dialed. If the input is a telephone number, the browser is terminated and the telephone number is dialed. If the input is a location request, the current latitude and longitude of the handset is acquired, and the browser is navigated to a reverse geocoding Web server. The server performs reverse geocoding on the latitude and longitude to generate the street address of the handset and sends the street address to the handset for display.
In a still further embodiment of the invention, a wireless communications system comprises a wireless handset and a Web server. The handset includes a transceiver for sending and receiving communications across a wireless communication network and an Internet browser configured to accept a user request for the current location of the handset. The request includes the URL address of the Web server. A position determination unit associated with the handset determines the current latitude and longitude of the handset. The Web server is in communication with the handset over the network and receives the latitude and longitude from the Internet browser. It performs reverse geocoding on the latitude and longitude to generate the street address of the handset, and sends the street address to the handset for display.